this morning on "early today," tea time? mainstream republicans feel the primary pinch from tea party candidates. > elder care outrage, disturbing video shows a 91-year-old woman boeing abused by her caregiver. > and coach crunch, controversial new airline seats aimed at putting a squeeze on controversial new airline seats aimed at putting a squeeze on passengers. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with a tea party takeover. across the country, the votes are in from atring of primary races, priding a dmrims of what's to come in the midterm elections. and in a surprise twist last night the gop establishment was oe again upended by the tea party. dan shinaman reports. >> reporter: a stunning victry

in delaware. christine o'donnell defeating moderate republican mike castle, who uil recently had been considered a shoo-in. >> we're in this to win. and we're in this to win big. >> reporter: o'donnell, a media consultant, will run for the senate seat held for 36 yrs by vice president joe biden. castle, who had run positive campaigns for decade went negative saying o'donnell can't we know in november. >> the last several weeks have been spirited, shall we say. and the voters in the republican primary have spoken and i respect that decision. >> reporter: and in new york's gubernatorial race, another upset witharl paladino defeating rick lazio. >> all andrew offers us is

startus cuomo. >> thank you, thank you, thank you. >> reporter: also in new yk despiting facing voters for the first time fais while facing ethics chrges, charles rangel had an easy win. nbc news. >> one result is still spending. that the new hampshire primary. preliminary results show kelly ayotte is ahead of ovide lamontagne the. sarah shourd is free after spending a year in an iranian prison. but t story is not over. two other american hikers still face espionage charges. >> reporter: it was a happ

ending tonight for sarah shourd, released from an iranian prison and flown immediately to oman, who put up the $500,000 that iran was demanding for her bail cording to some reports. >> on behalf of myself and my family, if anything, i'm standing here today because of the efforts of many people and many governments. >> reporter: she was reunited there with her mother, nora, who with the other two mowers had beenobbying and begging for the release of their chdren, saying that they had simply wandered across the border, an unmarked border in iran from iraq and that they were certainly not spies. but the prosecutor has announced that not only are there charges of espionage against the two men, the two male hikers, shane baure and 28-year-old josh pa

fattal, that these two men will face charges & o oespinage. a caregiver in new jersey was seen on tape allegedly abusing her 91-year-old patient. a children of the victim set up a camera when they saw bruises. and louisiana, new videotape was released of a hit and run driver whose offense was caught on walmart security camera. now, the driver approaches a crosswalk and mows down a 60-year-old woman who bravely pushes her daughter out of the way. moments later, another person is clipped. the -year-old is in the hospital with severe injur and

the car has been found abandon. a california woman got a scare when a 3-feet snake coiled around a pole in the wall. bit himwhile he slept. the snake has been removed. a diver hauled in a monstrous cath, a 9 pound, 2 foot long loter. the diver says he wrestle the colossal crustacean for about 20 minutes. he estimates there are about five moundz pounds of meat in the tail alone. bill, any idea what he cooked with that lobster? >> you have to go with the corn and the coleslaw. >> close, close. actually, made some lobster

enchilladas. >> wow. >> baked potato, maybe. when you have five pounds of lobster, you have to think of something pretty big to make. >> share it. >> share it with the staff ov here. lynn, i've got a lot to talk about in the weather. yesterday at this time, we didn't even have a storm named karl. and it's going to make landfall down here today in mexico and belize. this storm has been rapidly forming and really getting its act together in the last 24 hours. now, we have two other storms, hurricane igor and hurricane julia. thanklly, neither of these two is going to affect, really, any major land area. we still have our eyes on better mood ya with igor as we head towards the upcoming weekend. a lot of these large waves will arrive on the east coa as we go throughout this upcoming weekend. the forecast here in the lower 48, east coast looks great

today. showers and thunderstorms in the midwest, especially from kansas city up through nneapolis. the rest of the country looks nice, but a little hot in the deep south. that's a look at your wednesday forecast. now here is a look at the weather outside your window. thunderstorms as i mentioned around kansas city today, could locally have 2 to 3 inches of rain. minneapolis,cooler. for you, a little rain mixed in with maybe some breaks every now and then. temperatures there, much cooler in th60s and 70s. let's take a look at that thursday forecast and that heavy rain, lynn. it's going to move from the midwest towards the great lakes. >> all right, bill, thank you. stocks stumble. japan propped up the yen. and you won't believe who's going green. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, lady gaga, the lobbyist? flexing the power of twitter. reggie bush mak the biggest return of his career and the yanks and the rays need

extra innings, again. you're watching "early today."

good mortgages morning. welcome back to "early today." france is one step closer to banning women from wearing a burka in pubc. after the senate overwhelmingly approved yesterday. it will go into effect next spring setting a range of fines for women including tourists who wear the full facial veil. one of 33 miners trapped underneath the ground inhile has a reason to celebrate this morning. his wife gave birth yesterday to a baby girl means esperanza, a spanish word meaning hope. if you thought airline seats couldn't get more uncomfortable, this week, an italian cn the company unveiled a seat with as

much surface area as a bar stool. some call it akin t ridin horseback. what's next, right? let's get a chck off how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 10,526 after dropping 17 points yesterday. the s&p was down a action and the nasdaq edged up 4. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei add 217 oints. the hang seng gained 29. stocks gave up their gains just before the closing bell yesterday as skittish investors worried about the health of the global enomy. fresh reports of waning confidence among german investors coupled with stalled industrial production in some european countries weighed on investors' minds. that made so-called safe betts like gold a hot commodity. the precious metalraded at a record high above $1,276 an

ounce. overseas, japanese officials stepped in to stabilize the country's volatile currency for the first time in six years to help keep its export-driven economy in effect. far, the move has pushed the ye sharply lower and stocks sharply higher. back on wall street yesterday, news that retail sales picked up at thr fastest pace in six months buoyed stocks for the rest of the day. massey's added 3% while jcpenney added 7%. meanwhile, best buy raised its full year forecast and blew past earnings estimates thanks to strong mobile phone sales. good news for owners of cisco stocks, the number one network gearmaker says it will start paying out a 1% to 2% dividend to shareholders by july of next year. millions of jp morgan chase customers ren't able to access their accounts online or on the

go yesterday. however, the bank fixed what it caed a restorative issue. going green is here to stay. italian officials seized mafia linked assets worth $1.2 billion on tuesday, the biggest mob haul ever. the record windfall came from the crime group's newest scheme, laundering money through alternative energy companies. apparently not always good to go green. reggie returns a trophy. the angels get focgophered and clubhouse hits the field. defense takes center stage as the yankees and rays battle for fir place. today's travel trouble spot kansas city to minneapolis with heavy rain. [ me announcer ] antiques can be nice.

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or an antique tv. ♪ or an antique remote control. so why are you still using an antique cable network created in 1948 for your 2010 tv? it's time to hook your tv up to a 100% fiber optic network. it's time for fios. visit verizon.com/getfios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v. good morning. 23 you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, former university of southern california running back regie bush has become the first person ever to forfeit the most prestigious trophy in all of college sports. good morning. after a week of rumors that the

heisman trophy might strip reggie bush of his heisman trophy, he beat them to the punch. he gave back the trophy. reggie bush calls the decision heartbreaking. the heisman trust has yesterday to decide if they'll give the trophy to vince young. willie aybar changed that with aome run. curtis granderson on his horse, terrific grabbing dive in the ninth and kept it tied at seven. jorge posada gave the yanks the lead. 7-6. duncan hit two home runs agnst the angels, indians won it. joe inglett with a shot up

the middle. norris those it down with and makes the play at first. another nice defensive play, ryan howard, a line drive to right. uglis threw out howard before he collided with sanchez. luckily, they were both okay. phils won it, -2. finally, a stumble and fall while running out of the dugout. that's embarrassing. the teammates had some fun with it, made an outline where he took the spill. it's not too often that you get to look at your own chalk outlines. orioless shot dwn the blue jays, 7-3. another problem star is headed to jail for baddriving behavior. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, the leader of the free world gives a p talk to our future leader, kids returning to school. you're watching "early today."

well, welcome back. let me quickly tell you, everyone that needs the umbrella, who nee to head out the door with it today? from kansas city northward of minneapolis, that's where the heavy rainis going to be today by the 48 hour forecast, this iludes tomorrow, too, rainfall will be mong through the great lakes and northern new england. today is beautiful up and down

the eastern seaboard andt's going to be the same as we go into thursday in most areas from texas to florida, really nice. just an increase in clouds up there in the mid-atlantic. but dry. if you're watching us on wgba 26, green bay, wisconsin, which came first, the egg or the dinosaur? find the answer at hatching the past, dinosaur eggs and babies. that's at the neville public museum. it seems obvious, a dinosaur has to have an egg, right? >> yeah. but we'll let them go and find out the answer. >> i don't want to ruin it for everyone. >> way to be a downer, bill. celebrities in england don't get the hollywootreatment whit comes to repeat dui offenses. 47-year-old pop star george mike i can't tellal was sentenced to eight weeks in jail after admitting he drove under the influence of marijuana. the judge made it clear jail was

inevitle following a similar conviction in 2006. michael was slashed with a five-year driving ban and a fine of nearly $2,000. following mohs of repeated denials, penelope cruz's agent announced that she is 4 1/2 months pregnant. finally, lady gaga knows the power of twitter. the most followed twitter user with almost 6 million followers, she tweeted yesterday for fans to get in touch with senator harry reid and schedule a vote to repeal the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. reid quickly responded that a vote had been scheduled for next ek. welcome to 2010. >> i haven'ttarted my twitter account yet and i wondered if you would be my first follower, maybe my only one. >> sure. wold you be my follower? i only have a few and would have

been tweeting for a while. and this ces to us from philadelphia whe one gro of kids going back to school was made even more exciting by a pep talk from high up. president obama talked to students at philalphia's masterman school receiving a rock star's welcome with standing ovation and did he havening spring. the if the president shared comical and inspiring schools from his own high school years. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

now it's time for us to look forward. now we can work -- how we can work to unite our great city. >> big news overnight. the voted have been counted and adrian fenty has been defeed. >> vns ent gray has been named the winner of the democratic mayoral primary. welcome to news 4 on this wednesday, september 15th, 2010. it appears washington, d.c. will have a new mayor. vincent gray defeated adrian fenty in the democratic primary. he won by more than 8 percentage points. he told supporters that is time to come together as one city. mayor fenty said he would be

calling vince gray to oncede. he has yet to throw in the towel, though -- rather, he had not thrown in the towel when he addressed supporters at his campaign headquarters late last night before going home for the night. d.c. electionfficials are ensuring all ballots were counted. this comes after 20 polling locations and workers complained they received confusing directions about the machines. a judge ruled against that request. >> this morning we know who is poised to take vincent gray's place as d.c. council chair. kwame brown defeated orange and douglas in a landslide. brown walked away with 55% compared to orange's 30%